USA > West Virginia > Men of West Virginia Volume II > Part 24
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In 1889 Mr. Ort married Olivia.
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M. Swarr, who is a daughter of N. B. Swarr, Esq., of Charleston, West Vir- ginia. Three children have been born to this marriage: Olivia Ruth, 10 years old; George Alvin, eight years old, and Margaret, a babe of eight months. In politics Mr. Ort is a Dem- ocrat. Fraternally he belongs to Ka- nawha Lodge, No. 20, A. F. & A. M., at Charleston; Glendale Lodge, No. 78, K. of P., at Charleston; the Dra- matic Order of the Knights of Kho- rassan; Knights of the Golden Eagle and the Maccabees.
HON. WILLIAM SYDNEY LAIDLEY.
HON. WILLIAM SYDNEY LAIDLEY, a prominent citizen of Charleston, West Virginia, who can
trace an authentic ancestry farther in- to the past than can many citizens, was born June 27, 1839, in Cabell County, Virginia, now West Virginia, and is a son of John Osborne and Mary Scales (Hite) Laidley, the former of whom was born in Morgantown and the latter in Barboursville, Virginia, now West Virginia.
The great-grandfather of our sub- ject was James Laidlaw, of Ayrshire, Scotland, who married Jane Stewart in August, 1746. Their fourth child was Thomas Laidlaw, born January I, 1756. It will be noticed that the original name was Laidlaw, and that it became Laidley; the change is said to have been made by this Thomas when he came to America, because he took the side of American colonists, the other members of the family re- mained loyal to King George III; to distinguish the rebel from the loyal, he called himself Laidley. And it has also been said that in the Civil War there was another of the name that took the side of the South, and changed his name back to Laidlaw for the same reason ; but whether either of the said stories are true ones we do not vouch.
Thomas Laidley, the grandfather of our subject, came to America in September, 1774, landing in New York, and it is said that he was with
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Washington at the battle of Brandy- wine, Trenton, and other conflicts of the Revolutionary War, and com- manded some boat on the Delaware River in aid of the American patriots. In 1778, at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, he married Sarah Osborne, daughter of Charles and Sarah Osborne of Philadelphia, and removed to Morgan- town, Virginia, now West Virginia, in 1773, and represented the county in several sessions of the Virginia Legislature and voted with the mi- nority on the famous Jefferson Reso- lutions of 1798.
John Osborn Laidley, father of our subject, was reared in Mononga- lia County and was given such edu- cation as the country afforded, being assisted and encouraged by a talented and educated mother. He learned somewhat of the printing business, studied law at Parkersburg, Wood County, with his oldest brother, James Grant Lindley, who had married Har- riet Quarrier, and was there engaged in practice. He was admitted to the bar of that county in June, 1813. During the war or 1812 he volunteered for service in Captain Kennedy's com- pany of Virginia artillery, and re- mained at or near Norfolk until the end of the war. On December 24, 1814, he returned to his adopted home
at Cabell Court House; he was ap- pointed prosecuting attorney of tlie county and continued in office all his life, although after the constitutional convention of 1852 the office was an elective one.
In 1816 John Osborne Laidley married Mary Scales Hite, daughter of Jacob and Sallie (Scales) Hite, the former a descendant of Hans Jost Heydt (or Hite, as the name was afterward Anglicized), who came from Strasburg to America and landed in New York about 1710. The Hite family is a prominent one all through the Virginias. For 20 years after coming to this country, Hans Jost Hite, with his wife, whose maiden name was Anna Maria DuBois, and their family lived at Kingston, New York and at different places in Penn- sylvania. On the 5th of August, 1731, he bought of the Van Meters the contracts made by them with Governor Gooch of Virginia, relating to grants of land in Western Virginia. The contracts required him to locate 40 families in two years. In the mean- while, he had secured the aid of one Robert McCoy, a Quaker, and on October 21, 1731, Hite and McCoy obtained an order of council of 100,- 000 acres on the west side of the mountains on like conditions of set-
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tling 100 families within two years. The time for making these settlements was extended until Christmas, 1735. Early in the spring of 1732 Hans Jost Hite, with 16 families, began the journey from Little York, Pennsy !- vania, to the Virginia grants, at first stopping at a place called Redbud, and finally settling on the Opequon at a place called Springdale, sometimes called Bartonville. On the 12th of June. 1734, an order of council was made which stated that Hans Jost Hite had made due proof that he had complied with the terms of the grant made to the Van Meters and had set- tled on that land more than the re- quisite number of families, and di- rected that patents should issue to him and his assignees upon the surveys then returned into the secretary's office. In the same year began the litigation between Lord Fairfax and Hite and others. Fairfax entered a general caveat against all orders of councils, deeds, patents, entries, etc., issuing from the crown office for the lands lying within his proprietary until the dispute was settled. By the Ist of January, 1736, Hite and McCoy had settled 54 families on their 100,000 acres of land, and had made some sur- veys, which were returned into the secretary's office in due time, but the
caveat was served before the patents were issued to the surveys. In 1771 there was a final decree of court which gave Hite 40,000 acres of the Van Meter land, and to Hite and Mc- Coy 54,000 acres of the 100,000 acres mentioned in the order of October 21, 1731. This practically ended the trouble, although some litigation was kept up for several years afterward.
The family of John Osborne Laid- ley and wife consisted of five girls and nine boys, all of whom have passed away except two, --- Mrs. L. H. Banks, who lives at the homestead that is now included in the limits of the city of Huntington ; and William Sydney, the subject of this sketch. John Os- borne Laidley practiced law in Logan County, which he aided in organizing in 1824, and also in Wayne County, which was organized in 1842, Mr. Laidley being appointed Common- wealth's attorney. In Cabell and Wayne counties he continued to prac- tice after his removal to the Ohio River in 1829. In that year he pur- chased a tract of land extending from the Ohio River back to the hills and built a residence facing the river. In 1843 Bishop Johns visited the Kana- wha Valley and at "Still-House" Mis- sion, above Walnut Grove, confirmed a class of which Mr. Laidley was a
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member, having rode there for that purpose. John Osborne Laidley may justly be styled the founder of Mar- shall Academy (now Marshall Col- lege), being one of the foremost citi- zens in having appropriations made and contributing time, energy and money for the good of the institution. It has been said of him by his contem- poraries that he was a man governed to a great extent by his religious and moral feelings and while he appreci- ated refined and educated associations, yet any one who was a sincere Chris- tain was treated with the greatest re- spect. As prosecuting attorney he was a terror to breakers of the law. He was a Jeffersonian Democrat ; a mem- ber of the Virginia Convention in 1829-30; a strong opponent of seces- sion, and through the early days of the War, a loyal and outspoken Union man. He was taken ill in August, 1863, and died with pneumonia, but the approach of death had no terrors for him, and he met it with a smile on his face. He was a man of simple manner, of studious habits, exemplary character, and commanded the respect of the entire community. The records . of the State embalm his history in their annals and point with pride to so eminent a fellow citizen.
William Sydney. Laidley was edu-
cated in the subscription schools of his native county, it being one of the great efforts of his father to have his children given educational advantages. He became a student at Marshall Col- lege at Huntington, his attendance ending with the beginning of the Civil War. After the death of his father in 1863, he moved to Charleston, read law with the very able George W. Summers, who had married his oldest sister, Amacetta, born in 1818, and was admitted to the bar in 1866. At the death of Judge Summers in 1868, he was the latter's partner in legal practice. Then he formed a profes- sional partnership with the late Col. WV. M. Hogeman and continued this relation until the latter's death in January, 1885. Mr. Laidley was a valuable working member of the House of Delegates in 1872-73, and for the past 15 years has been con- nected with the municipal government of Charleston, as councilman; he was city solicitor for two years. He has done much to advance the prosperity and adornment of the capital of the State, being one of the promoters of the city water works and the electric light plant. In 1890 he was a candi- date for County Commissioner of Kanawha County, and was elected by a majority of 1,300. Mr. Laidley is
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the able editor of the West Virginia Historical Magasine and for a number of years has been a member of the West Virginia Historical Society.
In 1869 Mr. Laidley was married to Virginia Brown, who is a daughter of Judge James H. Brown. A family of nine children has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Laidley. The religious at- tachment of the family is with the Protestant Episcopal Church.
HON. EDWARD MILLER GRANT.
HON. EDWARD MILLER GRANT, who has been identified with many of the most important business concerns of Morgantown, Mononga- lia County, West Virginia, is given
credit by the residents of that city, more than to any other man, for its great industrial growth and the ex- ploitation of the rich resources of the community. Mr. Grant was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1853, and is a son of William Grant.
William Grant was born in En- gland, came to the United States in 1850 and located at Cleveland, Ohio, where he followed the trade of a brick- maker. He was a member of Battery B, Ist Ohio Light Artillery, and served from 1862 until the close of the war. He died in 1900 at the age of 83 years. He married Hannah Turner, who was born in England and came to the Uni- ted States with her husband in 1850. Her death occurred in 1873, aged 56 years.
Edward M. Grant was educated in the public schools of Cleveland, after which he went into the office of Hussey & McBride, pioneer oil refiners of Cleveland, as office boy. At the age of 15 years he was keeping books for this firm. In 1872 he was sent to the oil regions to take charge of the pro- ducing property, then owned by Clark, Payne & Company, successors of Hus- sey & McBride. He subsequently pur- chased the interests of his employers in that property. He became interested in the natural gas business in 1885,
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when he bought a controlling inter- est in the Union Light & Heat Com- pany, of Foxburg, Pennsylvania. In January, 1889, he located in Morgan- town, West Virginia, and organized the Union Improvement Company, for the purpose of supplying gas and water to the city. At that time the popula- tion of the town was about 1,500 peo- ple. From the date of the introduc- tion of the company above named, the town began to take on new life and rapidly grew to its present population of 10,000 people. Mr. Grant has iden- tified himself with the interests of the town and all its enterprises at all times, and is today one of the leading spirits in everything tending to ben- efit and advance its interests. He is secretary and treasurer of the Mor- gantown Building & Investment Com- pany, which has done more than any similar concern to develop the re- sources of the community. He is sec- retary and treasurer of the Morgan- town Brick Company; vice-president of the Federal Savings & Trust Com- pany ; director in the Bank of Monon- gahela Valley; treasurer of the Union Utility Company, which now owns the gas, electric light, water and street railway plants of the town. He has twice been a member of the State Leg- islature, representing Monongalia
County in that body in 1899 and again in 1901. He was instrumental in se- curing the largest appropriation the State University has ever secured, and as a result of his activity on behalf of that institution he was asked by Gov- ernor A. B. White to serve as a mem- ber of the Board of Regents, which position he is at present filling with signal success.
In 1876, Mr. Grant was united in marriage with Florence Mary Dale, at Foxburg, and they had five children, two of whom are now living. The oldest son, Dale, was a member of the First Regiment, West Virginia Infan- try, U. S. Volunteers, and died during the Spanish-American War. Fratern- ally, our subject is a past grand and past chief patriarch in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; a member of Morgantown Union Lodge, No. 4, A. F. & A. M .; Orient Chapter, No. 9, R. A. M .; Crusade Commandery, No. 6, K. T .; Osiris Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Wheeling; Royal Arcanum; A. O. U. W .; K. O. T. M .; Royal Tribe of Joseph ; and is a past exalted ruler in the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks.
C. J. POE, a practicing attorney of Buckhannon, Upshur County, West Virginia, was born in Nelson County,
18
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Virginia, on September 10, 1872, and is a son of David Poe, who moved to West Virginia in 1876 and located in Upshur County.
The subject of this sketch worked on his father's farm and attended the local schools until he was 21 years of age and then began to put his edu- cation to practical use, teaching school in Barbour and Upshur counties. Later he entered the University of West Virginia at Morgantown, where he remained three years, and where he was graduated in 1895, receiving his degree of Bachelor of Laws. Mr. Poe then located at Buckhannon for the practice of his profession, and in 1896 was made the Democratic candidate for the office of prosecuting attorney. He was not successful, however, on ac- count of Upshur County being over- whelmingly Republican. He is known as a successful practitioner and makes a specialty of real estate and land titles.
Personally he is an entertaining companion and possesses those quali- ties which stamp him as one of Nature's noblemen. He is of athletic mould, possessing a strong, virile man- hood, his every motion denoting de- termination and aggressiveness. He is one of those gifted men who are equal to any emergency.
GEORGE E. THORNBURG.
GEORGE E. THORNBURG, a prominent general merchant of Bar- boursville, Cabell County, West Vir- ginia, was born June 28, 1846, in the above named county, and is a son of Hon. Thomas and Margaret ( Miller ) Thornburg. He is also a grandson of Solomon Thornburg, who removed to Cabell County from Jefferson County, Virginia, now West Virginia, in the early settlement of the county. He located one mile from Barbours- ville and the land has never passed out of the possession of the family, being owned now by our subject.
Solomon Thornburg married Mary Staley and they reared these children : Elizabeth, Thomas, John, James and
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Mary. They were among the early Methodists in their section and did much toward the establishment of that religious body. Mr. Thornburg ad- vocated old Democratic principles in politics.
Hon. Thomas Thornburg, the eld- est son of Solomon Thornburg, and father of our subject, inherited the property and added materially to its extent. At the age of 12 years he be- gan business life as a clerk in a store, this early experience giving him an in- clination to mercantile pursuits, and he became one of the most successful merchants and substantial citizens of Cabell County. His character was that of an upright man and his 80 years of life were crowned with the respect and esteem of his fellow men. During the Civil War, he closed up his store and boxed his goods, permitting his build- ing to be used by the Union troops as a commissary. While he was a Democrat, he was not in sympathy with secession, and, although some members of his immediate family en- tered the Confederate Army, he was stanch in his support of what he be- lieved to be right. He died in Octo- ber, 1899, his wife having passed away many years previous, in 1857. Thom- as Thornburg was prominent in the Democratic party and on two occasions
represented Cabell County in the Legislature, and was a member of the Constitutional Convention that made the present Constitution of the State of West Virginia. He was a charter member of Minerva Lodge, No. 13, A. F. & A. M., of Barboursville and a charter member of the chapter of Royal Arch Masons.
George E. Thornburg is one of a family of five children born to his par- ents, the others bearing these names : Mary S., Elizabeth, Ellen E. and John. He was educated in the ante-bellum schools of Virginia, where he was pre- pared for Marshall College and he was a student there when it was under the management of the Methodist Church. After the close of the war, in 1865, our subject, in answer to a popular de- mand, opened up his father's store and has been actively engaged in the mer- cantile business ever since. He is a Democrat in political sympathy, but has never aspired to office. He is a member of the various Masonic bodies, having been made a Mason in Minerva Lodge, No. 13, A. F. & A. M., in 1872 and belongs to Hunting- ton Chapter, R. A. M., and Hunting- ton Commandery, No. 9. K. T., also to Beni-Kedem Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S .; in 1885 he was grand master of the State.
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In 1869, Mr. Thornburg was united in marriage with Nannie A. Wilson, a daughter of James Wilson. Mrs. Thornburg is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South.
DANIEL T. BIRTWELL, M. D.
DANIEL T. BIRTWELL, M. D., a leading physician of Clarksburg, West Virginia, has not only achieved an honorable rank in his chosen pro- fession, but as a citizen is interested in all that concerns the progress and development of his locality. He was born at Chester, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. May 24, 1874, and is a son of Ebenezer and Margaret
(Armstrong) Birtwell. The father was also born in Chester, and is of English descent, while the mother who is of Scotch ancestry, was born near Swathmore College, in Delaware County. Both are still residents of Chester, where Ebenezer Birtwell has long been engaged as a contractor and builder. Dr. Daniel T. Birtwell is the only son and the second member of a family of four children. The Birt- well family has been established in the United States for a hundred years.
Dr. Daniel T. Birtwell attended the common schools of Chester, com- pleting a three-years course in the High School in 1892. His ambition was to become a physician and with this end in view he started out to earn the means with which to pursue his. studies. After six months in the First National Bank of Chester, he went to Washington, D. C., and was associ- ated with his uncle in the real estate business. During his second year in Washington, he began a scientific course in the collegiate department of Columbia University, and after com- pleting two full years of college work, matriculated in the medical department of Columbia University and completed the four-years course, graduating with the degree of M. D., on May 28, 1900. During his last year of study, he was
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resident interne physician at the Co- lumbia University Hospital and was requested to serve a second year, but he declined. Going to Ohio, he passed the State medical examination there. Returning to West Virginia, he passed the State Board Medical examination and settled for practice at Flemington, Taylor County, West Virginia, one year later removing to Clarksburg. Since that time he has been active in his profession in that city and is a valued member of the State Medical Society, and the American Medical Association. His hospital and clinical practice in Washington gave Dr. Birtwell an op- portunity for study which he did not neglect, and his experience has bene- fited his many patients more than volumes of reading, although he is also a close student. In 1902 he was appointed medical examiner for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company of New York, the New England Mutual Life Insurance Company of Boston, Massachusetts, and the Se- curity Mutual Life Insurance Company of Binghamton, New York. Both he and wife belong to the Goff Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church.
Dr. Birtwell is a self-made man and he is justly proud of his success. His father sympathized with his am- bitions and was ready to advance his
son's interests, but the latter decide 1 to rely entirely upon his own efforts. He is a fine specimen of American scholarship and professional ability.
G. C. SCHOOLFIELD, M. D.
G. C. SCHOOLFIELD, M. D., a prominent physician and surgeon of Charleston, Kanawha County, West Virginia, was born in Bracken County, Kentucky, June 10, 1869, and is a son of Dr. C. B. and Florence ( Holmes) Schoolfield, both of whom were also natives of Kentucky.
Dr. G. C. Schoolfield is a graduate of the Medical College of Ohio and has been engaged for many years in the successful practice of his profession in Kentucky. The three children born
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to our subject's parents are : G. C., of this sketch: Edna P., wife of Dr. W. A. Young ; and E. R., a physician and1 surgeon, also a graduate of the Medi- cal College of Ohio.
Dr. G. C. Schoolfield obtained his early education in the public schools of Newport, Kentucky, and passed with credit through the Newport High School. For two years following graduation, he was in the employ of the Standard Oil Company, in the meantime reading medicine under his father's guidance. In 1887 he entered the medical department of the Uni- versity of Cincinnati, which had been his father's alma mater (as the Medi- cal College of Ohio), and graduated with his medical degree, in the class of 1891. During that and the following year, he served as resident physician at the Good Samaritan Hospital, and then took up general practice at Charleston, West Virginia. Dr. Schoolfield is qualified in every way for success in his chosen profession and he has secured a large part of the public patronage. In association with Dr. H. H. Young, he has established and is operating a private hospita! where his patients can be under his continual supervision, and he has gained a reputation for his skill in
difficult surgery. The hospital is one of the beautiful buildings on Elmwood avenue and its success reflects credit upon the city as well as its managers. Dr. H. H. Young is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati, in the class of 1900, and prior to locating at Charleston was resident physician at Christ Hospital in Cincinnati. Both physicians are close students and their hospital is supplied with all modern appliances, making it a safe retreat for those in need of either medical or surgical aid. Dr. Schoolfield has taken post-graduate courses both at Johns Hopkins University at Baltimore, and at the Polyclinic at New York and is a valued member of the county and State medical societies and the American Medical Association.
In 1894 Dr. Schoolfield was mar- ried to Nellie L. Roy, who was born in Charleston, and died in November, 1900, survived by one son, Raymond. Another son, John C., is deceased.
Dr. Schoolfield is prominent in Masonry, belonging to Kanawha Lodge, No. 20, A. F. & A. M .; Ty- rean Chapter, No. 13, R. A. M .; Kanawha Commandery, No. 4, K. T .; and Beni-Keden Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., all of Charleston. In religious belief, he is a Baptist.
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ABRAHAM L. HELMICK.
ABRAHAM L. HELMICK, presi- dent of the County Court of Tucker County, postmaster at Thomas, West Virginia, and a prominent politician and well known citizen of that town, was born in 1864, at Circleville, Pen- dleton County, West Virginia, and is a son of Abram B. and Katherine (Mullenax ) Helmick.
Abram B. Helmick, father of our subject, was born in Highland County, Virginia, but is now a resident of Tucker County, West Virginia, at the age of 60 years. In 1861, under pro- test, he enlisted in the Confederate Army, and served until 1863, under Gen. "Stonewall" Jackson. His sym- pathies being with the Union, he then entered the Union Army. In politics
he is a stanch Republican. His occu- pation through life has been farming. The mother of our subject was born in Pendleton County, Virginia, now West Virginia, and died at the age of 34 years, in 1877. Both parents sup- ported the Methodist Church, of which they were most worthy members. The three children born to them were: Albert C., postmaster at Thomas, West Virginia; Georgiana, wife of John J. Knotts, a farmer of Tucker County ; and Abraham L., of this sketch.
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